


A New Beginning

by head_in_the_clouds13



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Family Fluff, Father's Day, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24760120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/head_in_the_clouds13/pseuds/head_in_the_clouds13
Summary: Kristoff shares a tender moment with his new baby son.
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	A New Beginning

He struggled to comprehend how tiny their son was at first.

The boy didn’t even span the length from his wrist to his elbow, and as the doctor handed him to Kristoff for the first time, he briefly grappled with an irrational fear that he would slip through his arms. The anxiety quickly melted, nonetheless, when he steadily fixed his gaze on the little face.

Erik had come out with orangey-blonde tufts and a button nose —and light brown eyes. This caught Kristoff by surprise, as he had been told a baby’s eyes were most commonly pale blue at birth. Anna was ecstatic, softly murmuring to the newborn that he had “his Papa’s eyes” once she had regained enough strength to hold him herself

“They might change over time,” he’d said with a chuckle as he put his arm around her. She only rolled her eyes and gave an affectionate huff through her nose.

“They’re already brown. Do you honestly expect them to become a lighter color?”

There was a certain cheekiness in Erik’s smile, and Kristoff could sense right away he and Anna were going to have a little trouble maker on their hands. “Feisty like his Mama,” he’d teased as they settled their son into the nursery, earning him a playful shove on the shoulder.

The royal couple had made the unconventional decision — far from their first — to have their newborn sleep in a room off of their own, tending to him themselves as much as possible rather than relying on the nurses and maids. While Anna enjoyed being queen and Kristoff enjoyed being by her side, they were both determined to uphold a sense of normalcy in their domestic life. The queen had even been hesitant to let another woman feed her baby, but was eventually convinced that her busy schedule would make it impossible to handle the duty herself.

Kristoff wanted to handle the majority of Erik’s middle-of-the-night outbursts without disturbing his wife; it _was_ important that a brand new mother and relatively new queen got as much sleep as she could, after all. He had even tried to convince her to keep the feeding nurse on duty during nights for when their son needed a midnight snack, but she held her ground.

“If I’m available to feed my child, I want to be the one to do it,” she’d insisted. “Besides, you know it doesn’t take much for me to fall back asleep.”

He happened to be lying awake himself one night during that first week, and heard his son begin to get fussy. He turned slightly to look at his lovely Anna snoring unceremoniously beside him with hair sticking out everywhere. A soft chuckle escaped his lips before he sat up and swung his legs over the bed. Hopefully, he could calm Erik before his cries got too loud.

After quietly closing the nursery door behind him, Kristoff peered at the restless, whining little figure in the crib. Sighing good-naturedly, he lifted his baby into his arms, holding him high and sniffing to make sure a change wasn’t in order. He then held Erik close, lightly rocking him back and forth to ease his discontentment. As the fussing eventually quieted down, Kristoff stroked a large thumb over his son’s chubby cheek.

“Hey, buddy,” he whispered. “Feeling better now?”

He smiled as Erik reached up to grasp his thumb in a tiny fist. His little nose twitched as he looked up into Kristoff’s eyes. The new father felt his heart swell. Anna had been right about those eyes, that was for sure. Erik smiled his sly smile, as if somehow aware and smug about the fact that he had dragged him out of bed in the middle of the night.

A feeling of utter bliss washed over Kristoff as he looked down at the boy— _his_ boy, his _baby_ boy— nuzzling his tiny head into his broad form. He suddenly found himself wondering if there had been early moments like this with his own father, if he had so lovingly held him close against his chest, rocked him in his arms, looked into his eyes with pure wonder at the fact that he had created a tiny human. It was hard to believe that he had once been the size Erik was now.

There was a soft pang of sadness within him. He must have been three or four when his parents died, leaving him to somehow end up at the Kingdom’s orphanage with nothing but his last name and a sash around his waist connecting him to his past. He was nearly eight when he found the trolls —and saw Anna for the first time— and he was of course grateful for the way his life turned out. Everything that happened over the years had led him here, holding a beautiful child that was simultaneously an orphaned woodsman’s son and the royal heir to the throne. He never would have thought it possible to be this happy.

Still, Kristoff felt that little void every now and then — at his wedding, on the night of Erik’s birth — and he had come to accept that it would never go away completely. Part of him would always wish they had been able to see him grow up and pass his milestones. He smiled a little at the thought of them being here now to see him living a life they certainly could have never in their wildest dreams envisioned for him.

Kristoff liked to think that they would be proud.

He wished he had an understanding of what kind of people they were; he at least wanted more than the few blurry images of their faces and snapshots of memories that, for all he knew, could have just been dreamed up in his boyhood.

A sharp squeeze on his thumb drew him suddenly out of his thoughts, almost as if his son could tell he had lost his father’s full attention.

“Hey,” he said with a chuckle, noting Erik’s already classic little smile as their eyes met once more.

“Be gentle with your old man.”

As his son’s grip loosened, Kristoff gently withdrew his hand and flexed his irritated thumb. He raised his eyebrows and grinned.

“You’re one strong little guy, aren’t you?”

He cradled Erik in both arms again and lightly bounced him up and down, his heart swelling once again at the resulting giggle. He lightly tilted his little boy up towards him, bending down to kiss his forehead. His lips split into a smile against the skin when he felt little hands patting at his jaw. Another contented noise hit his ears. His fingers softly stroked the silky hair on the back of his son’s head.

He was a father.

He was “Papa.”

And he was so grateful.

“I love you, Erik.”

He lifted his head and lowered his son back against his chest, feeling that wonderful little nuzzle once again as he watched the wide amber eyes begin to slip shut.

Kristoff heard the door to the nursery ever-so-quietly open. He lifted his gaze to meet his wife’s eyes. Her smile was small and soft, but her eyes were absolutely glowing at the sight before her. She wordlessly made her way to her husband’s side, put one arm around him and rested her other hand on the one he had under the now sleeping Erik’s tiny form. He smiled wider as she pressed herself against him, reveling in the presence of his two favorite people in the world.

In that moment, somewhere deep within him, Kristoff knew that the tragedies of his past, of Anna’s past, were over. They were going to be happy, live to watch Erik (and, god willing, the younger siblings he would eventually have) grow up well into adulthood. There would undoubtedly be mistakes, fights, and hardships to overcome, but they would pull through as a couple.

As a family.

As a kingdom.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy (early) Father’s Day everyone! I finished this early and just couldn’t wait to get it up. Hope y’all enjoyed!


End file.
